Category: Theories on Zika Virus

The Zika virus outbreak in Brazil is creating panic in other countries. Even though strains of the Zika Virus have been around for years, not much is known about the virus. Brazil knows the virus can create a wave of hysteria because there are signs that Zika and the condition known as microcephaly are related. Dr. Sergio Cortes, the Ministry of Health’s chief medical experts, believes the Zika virus and the number of microcephaly cases reported in the last 10 months have a connection. But the biological details of that connection is unclear at this point.

There are other theories about the cause of microcephaly. Some doctors say the larvicide that is used in that program contaminates the drinking water in those rural areas. The doctors say that is the reason babies are not developing normally. The larvicide genetically alters newborn mosquitoes, and it appears it might do the same thing to the unborn human fetus.

The goal right now is to develop a vaccine that slows down the Zika virus, and to try to determine the real cause of the microcephaly outbreak. More than 3,500 cases have been reported so far, and Cortes and his staff think there could be thousands more. A vaccine will help control the Zika virus, but controlling the number of microcephaly is still an unknown based on the theories that are circulating on the Internet.